On Twitter, Richard Davies told his 12,000 followers: “I am deeply sorry, embarrassed and mortified this happened in one of my kitchens and for what Nathan has had to mentally and physically endure as a result.

“I have never seen anything like this in my 25 years in the industry and was appalled by this horrific act and this is certainly not something that I or the rest of the team support, condone or represents how we run our business.

“I of course share responsibility for this act, but was not at Calcot when it happened.”

The chef responsible “did not set foot back in the kitchen” and was later dismissed, Mr Davies confirmed.

LUXURIOUS: The 14th century country hotel is in the heart of the Cotswolds (Image: FACEBOOK)

Describing the incident at “extremely upsetting”, the hotel said in a statement on Facebook: “We were as shocked as everyone else by the incident that has occurred to a member of our staff and appropriate action was taken without hesitation.

“The member of staff responsible was immediately disciplined and dismissed at the time and he has not set foot in the kitchen since the incident several weeks ago.”